News, Reviews- everything about stand up paddle surfing... get out and poach some!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Back to Business: Surf/Tow-in teams/S-rails?

Whew! Good thing Sunday brought such fun surf, I was getting a little too uptight with Jason Smith's puff piece in Surfing Magazine. Final word on that: In the end he's right, this sport is no fun and it's lame- better if he never gives it a shot.

The head high swell predicted by many surf forecasters came in just as predicted- on time and as big as promised. Don't know how it was up the coast but here at home, it was lined up, head high, lefts and rights. A few new faces in the water including two unknown tow teams buzzing in and out of the lineup. One team featured a tow in boogey boarder. Five minutes before the law showed up, one of the guys bolted south- not really sure if he thought he had anywhere to hide down that way but he was going for it. Mike P. with the lifeguards told us that they are restricted from any surf break by a thousand feet- since they obviously broke the law and CF numbers were taken, somebody is going to get busted (Coast Guard was alerted). I'll keep you posted as details emerge.Top Photo: Kelly Kraus Kills it Konsistently. Going right and going fast on his new BK Edition C4 10'0"Check out the tow team in the background.Photo: Spidey

Middle: Kraig Surplus looking happy on his new Stamps 10'0". Last saw Kraig dropping into an overhead right doing about Mach 10. The bigger guys (220 - 270, yup I said 270) are digging these boards. Stable, fast and carvey they are really a nice choice for a shorter board.Photo: El Tigre

Bottom Photo: Emerald City Surf Shop in Coronado (619-435-6677) just added to their inventory of stand up boards. I'll post some of the stand outs later but for now, take a look at this: The S-Rail on South Point's Bonga Perkins model. In person, it looks really nicely done, would be great to try it out. More on this and others to come.Photo: Igor Von Smiley

8 comments:

JohnI would love to get a report on the Bonga Perkins s-rail. That rail design seems to make so much sense for a SUP. It gives you the float you need to paddle and the reduced rail volume to lay some carving bottom turns. Is Carl Schaper the designer?

I was skeptical of the South Point "pop-outs" marketing of the Perkins 9'1" performance longboard until I rented one for two weeks last August in Hawaii. I'll let it rest by saying that the board completely lived up to the hype. Also shaped by Schaper I would imagine that the Perkins SUP is a winner! Can you talk your way into "field testing" one?

Yes, it's a Carl Schaper design- and it did look really good. There's already a deck pad on it and when you buy it, it comes with a carbon paddle and a paddle bag for around 1400 bucks- I think this is a portent of things to come for molded stand up boards- more boards coming on-line = lower prices. We'll see. And, I will do everything in my power to see it I can get that one out on the water- Kelly was actually just telling me that he wants to have board demos for next summer down here- check out a board and bring it back the next day kind of thing- a great idea I think!

Hey Steve- I will check out that site- have you gotten back out on the water with your SUB? There was a lot of wind coming up the face today- got me thinking about what we talked about regarding the design of your board.

hey srfnff check out alexandersurfboards.com the true inventer of s rail click on skate 8 deck.this design is about ten years old.jeff concaves the deck so your body fits the board.then he thins out the rail.just like s rail.my old boss road this rail for many years.his commett on rail is that once in the white water the board would not bog down.

john yes in the water every last sunday surf so. side ib. getting the hang of sub.taken about 7 weeks.still making mistakes.but ilove to paddle.and enjoy your site. its bad ass.paddle coronodo.last4 days close outs.no corners.steve